Time Makes Monsters of Us All
by oh-klaroline
Summary: With Katherine and Rebekah's help, Caroline is letting her inner monster out for all the world to see. AU where Katherine has successfully claimed Elena's body and the girls take over the world. Eventual Klaroline, implied Caroline/Katherine/Rebekah.


**A/N: I'm going to be completely honest with you, and tell you that I have no idea where I'm even going with this. I know I should be updating _Last Love_, but when I thought of Caroline running around with Katherine and Rebekah, I couldn't resist writing it. Eventually, there will be some Klaroline in there, and who knows what else, but for right now, I'm enjoying these three together.**

**What you need to know: Like in current canon (up to 6x03), Damon is dead in this story, only permanently. So is Bonnie, and that makes me sad. Katherine also managed to claim Elena's body permanently, though Nadia still died. I stopped watching The Originals after Rebekah left, so as far as the author and this story are concerned, she's managed to escape Klaus before his evil baby was born and hasn't looked back since.**

* * *

_Time makes monsters of us all._

She knows this now. Understands it. It plays over and over again like a whispered promise in her head.

She cradles the girl's lolling head in her hand, shuts her eyes tight as she drains the body dry, as if closing them will block the words out. But you can close your eyes all you want, plug up your ears, it won't matter. Save for turning off your humanity, you will never shut out the truth.

And she doesn't want to turn off her humanity anyway. She refuses. Because she's Caroline Forbes, and along with the memories of being tortured and being left behind by the people she loved, there too are the memories of dancing on daddy's feet, impromptu sleepovers, of prom, of graduation and mom smiling proudly up at her, of the first discovery of real strength coming from her own fingers, of boys who said they loved her, for however briefly, of woodland shenanigans with the one boy who promised to wait for her however long it took.

So she runs around the world, no longer toe-dipping, but canon-balling into the darkness, and she does what she's always done best: endures. She endures the whisper, ignores the judgment in its voice, because it's been more than a century and she no longer gets to call home to mom or Matt. Because Bonnie can't tell her not to from beyond the veil. Because Stefan had checked out on her long before all this, turned his back on Mystic Falls—he would say on Damon dying and Elena being gone, yes. But also on _her_. Because Elena is gone, and in her place is Katherine, and it has been several lifetimes since she's seen judgment coming from those big brown eyes.

In place of it, she sees only encouragement, a sly agreement to anything she does, however monstrous it may be. Katherine thinks she took her under her wing, taught her all the things she would have taught Nadia had they been allowed to spend more time together, but Caroline knows better. What Katherine did was merely coax it out of her, dangled a string in front of a kitten, and Caroline pounced. She wasn't taken against her will, nor forced to join Katherine lest her loved ones suffer the same way Stefan was once forced by Klaus to do, all those years ago. Katherine simply opened her palm, and Caroline took her hand. And then off they went, wreaking havoc along their way.

Katherine didn't have to do much to lure out Caroline's bloodlust; it was always there, straining against her, throbbing in her gums and in her head like a constant migraine just waiting to incapacitate her. What she did was take Caroline by the hand and lead her to where she could do the most damage. They started off just drinking from tourists, then compelling those they don't completely drain on their merry way. They met a lot of travelers when they went on their road trip around America, crashing campsites like two runaway girls looking to share stories around a campfire, lulling everyone into a false sense of security by pretending to be giggly teenagers on a coming-of-age adventure before having their fill of them. Caroline likes to think of those days as one big All-American buffet.

When they moved on to Europe, Katherine decided it was time for Caroline to learn about true power. In each country, at least one of them has drank and compelled their way into the Royal family or the higher ranks of government. "Katerina" is "married" to a Belgian Prince, had once killed every single male heir to the Spanish throne, somehow becoming their heir presumptive, and served as Bulgaria's Prime Minister for a decade before getting bored and "eloping" with "Karolina", known as her best friend as well as the "wife" of the Prime Minister to the neighboring country of Greece, who also happens to have the same face as The Unaging Princess of Liechtenstein, known to have been the wife of two succeeding Princes several decades ago.

"Damn it, Caroline! You promised me a taste," Katherine snaps when Caroline lets the body drop next to their feet.

Caroline smiles as the tiny veins around her eyes crawl back into hiding, wiping the corner of her mouth with her thumb and wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Relax, Kitty-Kat, we'll get you a fresh one."

* * *

They find Rebekah in Asia, sitting pretty next to the head of The Yamaguchi Family, the biggest Yakuza group in Japan. And then, as a game, Katherine and Caroline decide to infiltrate the second and third biggest groups respectively, playing at war like little girls playing with their dolls. In less than half a decade, three caucasian girls bring about Japan's take over of Asia. When the Americans come, the three vampires leave the continent bloody and on the brink of the third World War.

* * *

It isn't long before Rebekah is scheming and taking over worlds with them. With her, they managed to lure the King of Great Britain into bed with them, compelling him to eat his own wife's heart (for sport, Rebekah claims, but Caroline has a strong suspicion it has more to do with the diamond-fringed sapphire on her hand the Original manages to take home with her). Unlike in the past, they stay to watch the repercussions of their latest conquest, Rebekah lecturing them about enjoying the mayhem of their actions instead of tucking tail and running, and Katherine feeling just a tad antsy at staying put.

"My brother is no longer hunting you," Rebekah says dismissively, flicking her hand and marveling at the way her new ring catches the light. "Mikael is no longer a problem. And—" she turns her eye to Caroline, "you're not nearly important enough for anyone to be chasing you."

Caroline flicks a letter opener at Rebekah's hand without even looking up from her book, which the other vampire manages to catch and lob back at her. She raises her book just in time, the letter opener lodging itself into the leather spine of her book instead of her eye.

"This is a first edition Rowling, you wench!"

"And I am a first edition Mikaelson, you hag!"

Katherine rolls her eyes at the blondes and goes back to running her fingers through the little Princess' hair, who is now looking adoringly up at her. "What do you say, little one? Do you want to join us for dinner?"

* * *

"I want to turn her," Katherine announces one early morning, flopping down on Caroline's bed and ignoring her friend's grumbling. They play tug-of-war with the sheets as Caroline tries to burrow deeper under the covers, but Katherine wins, so she just turns her back on the too-chipper-even-though-it's-an-ungodly-hour vampire that's now slinking into the bed with her.

"Go away!" Caroline mumbles against her pillow, elbowing Katherine's hand that's now roaming over her ass, down her bare legs, between her thighs. "I'm not in the mood, go fool around with Rebekah instead."

"What's that? I just heard my name."

"Ugh!" Caroline groans as another weight shifts the bed on her other side. She feels Rebekah slide under the blankets with them, her hand finding Katherine's and play-slapping them away from Caroline's stomach. "_I swear to god!_ Next bedroom I claim, I'm getting a single!"

"I want to turn the Princess," Katherine tells Rebekah, her hand now massaging Caroline's left breast.

"Mhm," Rebekah mumbles, teeth nibbling at Caroline's neck. "That should be interesting."

"Can you imagine a literal prepubescent vampire on that throne?" Katherine sniggers, just as Caroline finally opens her eyes and breaks three of her fingers. "Ow ow ow!" Katherine pulls her hand back and stares daggers at her.

With a grunt, Caroline manages to untangle herself from the other vampires on her own bed, throwing off the blankets and rolling over Rebekah to land gracefully on the floor.

"Next time, I would appreciate it if you two planned your schemes out of my bed," she huffs, slamming the door to the bathroom behind her.

"So after I turn her, you can compel her to eat her brothers to fast track her ascension to the throne," a naked Katherine tells a naked Rebekah five minutes later, as all three vampires stand in Caroline's shower, the two scheming vamps running their soapy hands all over her body. Caroline just stands under the shower, letting the rush of water drown out their voices.

_Why even fight it?_

* * *

**Tbc?**

**I'm not even sure. This started out a little darker and I thought I was writing a serious thing here, but then Rebekah arrived and she and Katherine can't keep their hands to themselves, and Caroline's just done with her friends.**


End file.
